campbell



Feb. 14, 1956 H. s. CAMPBELL HAND OPERATED HOIST CONSTRUCTION med- March8, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVEN TOR Feb. 14. 1956 H. s. CAMPBELL HANDOPERATED HOIST CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 8, 1952 ill/lI." Ill/I I nil/Al INVENTOR JAM J. M

( e ha United States PatentO HAND OPERATED HOIST CONSTRUCTION Harris S.Campbell, Bryn Athyn, Pa., assignor to Eastern Rotorcraft Corporation,Neshaminy, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 8, 1952,Serial No. 275,488

2 Claims. (Cl. 254-169) This invention relates to improvements in theconstruction of low capacity manually operated mechanical hoists.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide construction forhoists of this nature which will simplify the manufacture and reduce theweight and cost. Hoists of this nature are often used in aircraft toprovide for lifting heavy bundles from the floor of the aircraft to anoverhead rail or for loading articles from the ground into the aircraft.It is essential, therefore, that the weight of suc hoists be kept at aminimum.

A specific object of the'invention is the provision of simplified andimproved hand engaging mechanism for the operation of the hoist. Thepresent invention provides for the adaptation of a continuous V-beltmember to operate the hoist in place of the commonly used heavy metallicchain member. For small size hoists of this nature, the minimumpractical size chain member is not only relatively heavy and awkward butprovides a less desirable hand engaging member than the fabric andrubber V-belt construction. The use of a V-belt further has theadditional advantage of eliminating the possibility of damage whichmight be caused by the hand member striking or moving across frailpackages or objects.

A further object is the provision of simplified mechanism for connectingthe hoist to a supporting rail.

A still further object is the provision of a simple and accessiblecontrol mechanism for preventing inadvertent release of the load whenthe hand is removed from the actuating mechanism.

How these and other objects and advantages of the invention are attainedwill be clear from the following description of the drawings in whichFigure 1 is a side elevational view of a hoist constructed in accordancewith the present invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view to an enlarged scale of the hoist taken inthe direction of arrows 2-2, Figure 1.

Figure 3 is another'sectional view through the extension of the hoisttaken in the direction of arrows 33, Figure l.

Figure 4 is a plan view to a reduced scale showing the manner in whichthe hoist is mounted in position on a rai Referring to Figures 1, 2 and3 it will be seen that hoist of the present invention incorporates aframe 5 which is composed of side plates 6 and 7. The gear housing 8 andcover 9 are supported on the frame 5. The housing encloses a cablepulley, or drum 10, upon which the hoist cable 11 may be reeled. It willbe noted that one end of the hoist cable 11 is anchored to the web ofthe drum by means of an anchor bolt 12. To operate the drum 10,planetary gears composed of the sun pinion 13 which is attached to shaft14, planet gears 15 and ring gear 16 are provided. The shaft 14 issupported in bearings 17 and 18 which are mounted in the housing 8 andthe cover 9 respectively. One end 19 of the shaft 14 projects throughthe cover 9 to provide the axle by means of which the gear train isoperated. The planet gears 15 are mounted 2,734,717 Patented Feb. 14,1956 on shafts 20 which are anchored to the cable drum 10 and projecttherefrom to support a bearing 21 on which the planet gears 15 mayrotate. The pulley 10 is also mounted upon a bearing 22 which issupported by the pinion shaft 14. The ring gear 16 is anchored to thecover member 9 by means of rivets 23.

To actuate the gearing an external pulley 2.4 is mounted on theprojecting shaft 19 by means of a key member 25. Pulley 24 incorporatesan annular groove in which V-belt 26 fits. Endless belt 26 provides thehand member by which manual operation of the hoist in either directionis accomplished. Roller guards 27 which are mounted at each side of theoperating pulley 24 by means of brackets 28 maintain the V-belt in theproper position in the pulley groove and apply a slight pressure to thebelt to improve the load transfer characteristics and thus prevent theslippage of the belt even when the tension load is applied to only oneside of the belt.

In order to retain the hoist in any position of adjustment whensupporting a load, a ratchet member 29 is attached to the inside face ofthe belt pulley 24 by means of rivets 30: Ratchet 29 incorporatesangular teeth 31 which are proportioned to engage a pawl device 32,anchored to the housing by means of pivot 33. The pawl is shaped with anexternal portion to form a handle 34 by means of which it can be movedinto or out of operative position. A spring device 35 which reactsbetween the pawl 32 and the cover 9 holds the pawl in an engagedposition as indicated by the full line position in Figure l.

The reaction points of spring 35 are selected in such a manner that whenthe pawl is moved to disengaged position such as indicated by dottedoutline 34a, the spring reaction passes over dead center with respect topivot member 33 and thus retains the pawl in disengaged position. Inthis fashion the pawl may be retained either in closed or open position.When in closed position the pulley drum 24 may be rotated only in thedirection to raise the load. Thus at any time the manual force iswithdrawn from the belt 26 the load is held in position by the reactionthrough the pawl. To permit the load to lower the pawl is moved torelease position and then the load is lowered under control of theoperator.

With a hoist of the particular type shown, the hoist unit is supportedon an overhead I-beam 36 as illustrated. In order to provide for raisingthe load to a point as close to the I-beam as possible, the extensionframe 5 is provided. Extension 5 supports at its outer end the groovedpulley 37 (see Figures 1 and 3). Cable 11 passes from the drum 10 overthe pulley 37 and is retained against dislodgment by a guard 33 which issupported on frame 5. Roller guide members 39 are supported also onframe 5 to guide the cable 11 as it passes from the drum 10 to theextension pulley 37 and these guide pulleys 39 serve to prevent tanglingor jamming of the cable. A hook member 40 is connected to the lower endof cable 11 for the purpose of supporting the load to be lifted by thehoist.

In order to provide for attachment of the hoist unit to the supportingI-beam, stationary brackets 41 and 42 (see Figures 1 and 2) are attachedto one end of frame 5 and additional brackets 43 and 44 are attached tothe other end of frame 5 in the region of the extension pulley 37 (seeFigures 1 and 3). Brackets 41, 42 and 43 are rigidly connected to theside plates 6 and 7 by means of rivets. Bracket 44 however is movablymounted on the side frame 7 by means of bracket 45 to which it ispivoted by pin 46. In order to retain the bracket 44 in closed position,a latch member 47 is pivotally mounted in the bracket 44 by means ofpivot 48. Latch 47 extends through the frame plate 7 to engage bearingplate 49 to retain the bracket 44 in closed position. A spring 50 urgesthe latch 47 into an engaged position as illustrated. The forward end oflatch 47 is shaped to permit it to readily enter the openings 52 in theside plate 7. A handle part 51. is attached to the latch 47 to permittheoperator to disengage latch 47. This in turn allows supporting bracket44 to pivot about pin 46 and swing away from beam 36.

In Figure 4 the manner in which the hoistunitmay be attached or removedfrom the overhead supporting beam is clearly illustrated. Here it willbe seen that the brackets 41 and 42 are spaced at alternate longitudinalpositions along the frame 5. This will also be observed in Figure l.With the movable bracket member 44' swung down out of the way, the hoistmay be brought up to the bottom of rail 36 in an angular position asillustrated in Figure 4, the position being selected to permit theflanges of the beam to-pass between the brackets 41 and 42. In'thisposition the hoist may then be swung around until it is parallel to thebeam in which position the brackets 41 and 42 engage the upper surfaceof the flanges of beam 36'and also the'bracke't 43 engages the flange.The rnovable bracket 44 is then swung up into position so that it alsoengages the beam 36 and the latch 47 snaps into position to hold thebracket 44 securely in locked post tion. The hoist unit may be quicklyremoved from the beam by the reverse process merely by releasing'latch47by handle 51 which permits twisting thehoist to release it from thebeam. With this construction only one of the four supporting bracketsneed bemovable. I

From the foregoing description it will be evident that I have provided asimple and efiicient light weight hoist unitwhich is particularly welladapted for use in handling loads in cargo aircraft. Because of itslight weight and quick acting mounting structure it can be easily placedin position for operation or removed for storage purposes. By the use ofthe extension structure the load may be hoisted close to the bottom ofthe rail where it may be readily transferred to trolley or othersupporting structure as desired. The use of the V-belt hand operatingmember provides an extremely desirable method of operating' a hoist ofthis light weight construction inasmuch as the weight of the operatingmember is much less than that of a chain for this purpose and inaddition it provides a member which is easily gripped by the operatorshand since the rubber and fabric construction does not tend to slip. Theuse of the particular belt guard roller devices causes the belt toremain in its operating groove and further provides suitable frictionalaction to permit operation without slippage inv the groove. The simplelatch mechanism construction shown provides for an effective loadretention device which permits rapid attachment to or removal from thesupport.

I claim:

1. A manually operated hoist having a housing, reduction mechanism and acable drum mounted in said housing, apulley member supported by saidhousing, an endlessbelt member contacting said pulley'member for handengagement to operate said hoist, and an extension arm having a cablepulley mounted thereon, four supporting brackets for attaching saidhoist to a rail, two of said brackets being fixed in staggeredrelationship at opposite sides of said hoist, two of said brackets beinglocated in directly opposite relationship close to said cable pulley,one of the said last two brackets being fixed to said hoist and theother being pivotally mounted to swing down below the plane of the railto provide for removal and at tachmen't to'the rail;

2. A hoist device having supporting structure connected theretofor'attachment' to a rail, said structure including four supportingbrackets extending therefrom, two of said brackets being" fixed instaggered relationship at opposite sides of said structure and two ofsaid brackets being located'in longitudinal spaced relationship withrespect to said two fixed brackets, one of said longitudinally spacedbrackets having a pivotal connection to the supporting structure toallow removal and attachment of the hoist by swinging said pivotedbracket below the plane of the rail.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,005,452 Moore Oct. 10, 1911' 2,184,545- Collier Dec. 26, 19392,189,447 Martin Feb. 6, 1940 2,353,479 Lock July 11, 1944 2,353,648Cofiing et al July 18, 1944 2,396,127 Riblet Mar. 5, 1946 2,683,585Ferris July 13, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 167,648 Great Britain Aug. 18, 1921

